Current:Home > NewsUnanimous Supreme Court preserves access to widely used abortion medication-InfoLens
Unanimous Supreme Court preserves access to widely used abortion medication
View Date:2025-01-09 17:42:12
Live updates: Follow AP’s coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision to preserve access to mifepristone.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously preserved access to a medication that was used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year, in the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.
The justices ruled that abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it.
The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remains legal.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court that “federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions.” Kavanaugh was part of the majority to overturn Roe.
The high court is separately considering another abortion case, about whether a federal law on emergency treatment at hospitals overrides state abortion bans in rare emergency cases in which a pregnant patient’s health is at serious risk.
More than 6 million people have used mifepristone since 2000. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone and primes the uterus to respond to the contraction-causing effect of a second drug, misoprostol. The two-drug regimen has been used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks gestation.
Health care providers have said that if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain, they would switch to using only misoprostol, which is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies.
President Joe Biden’s administration and drug manufacturers had warned that siding with abortion opponents in this case could undermine the FDA’s drug approval process beyond the abortion context by inviting judges to second-guess the agency’s scientific judgments. The Democratic administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories, which makes mifepristone, argued that the drug is among the safest the FDA has ever approved.
The decision “safeguards access to a drug that has decades of safe and effective use,” Danco spokeswoman Abigail Long said in a statement.
The abortion opponents argued in court papers that the FDA’s decisions in 2016 and 2021 to relax restrictions on getting the drug were unreasonable and “jeopardize women’s health across the nation.”
Kavanaugh acknowledged what he described as the opponents’ “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone.”
But he said they went to the wrong forum and should instead direct their energies to persuading lawmakers and regulators to make changes.
Those comments pointed to the stakes of the 2024 election and the possibility that an FDA commissioner appointed by Republican Donald Trump, if he wins the White House, could consider tightening access to mifepristone.
The mifepristone case began five months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Abortion opponents initially won a sweeping ruling nearly a year ago from U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee in Texas, which would have revoked the drug’s approval entirely. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left intact the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone. But it would reverse changes regulators made in 2016 and 2021 that eased some conditions for administering the drug.
The Supreme Court put the appeals court’s modified ruling on hold, then agreed to hear the case, though Justices Samuel Alito, the author of the decision overturning Roe, and Clarence Thomas would have allowed some restrictions to take effect while the case proceeded.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
veryGood! (95351)
Related
- Louisiana mom arrested for making false kidnapping report after 'disagreement' with son
- Pickleball has taken the nation by storm. Now, it's become a competitive high-school sport
- South Carolina GOP governor blasts labor unions while touting economic growth in annual address
- Michael Mann’s Defamation Case Against Deniers Finally Reaches Trial
- NY forest ranger dies fighting fires as air quality warnings are issued in New York and New Jersey
- Melissa Barrera talks 'shocking' firing from 'Scream 7' over Israel-Hamas posts
- Pakistani Taliban pledge not to attack election rallies ahead of Feb. 8 vote
- Stock market today: Asian shares mostly rise, led by gains in Chinese markets following policy moves
- Louisiana man kills himself and his 1-year-old daughter after a pursuit
- Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan to become head coach of Los Angeles Chargers
Ranking
- 2025 NFL Draft order: Updated first round picks after Week 10 games
- Senator Tammy Duckworth calls on FAA to reject Boeing's request for safety waiver for the 737 Max 7
- It's Apple Macintosh's 40th birthday: How the historic computer compares with tech today
- Robitussin cough syrup recall issued nationwide due to microbial contamination
- Mother of Man Found Dead in Tanning Bed at Planet Fitness Gym Details His Final Moments
- Florida House passes a bill to ban social media accounts for children under 16
- Florida deputy fatally shoots 81-year-old after she lunged at him with knife: Officials
- Transgender veterans sue to have gender-affirming surgery covered by Department of Veteran Affairs
Recommendation
-
Messi breaks silence on Inter Miami's playoff exit. What's next for his time in the US?
-
What's the best food from Trader Joe's? Shoppers' favorite items revealed in customer poll
-
Man sentenced to death for arson attack at Japanese anime studio that killed 36
-
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader quits, claiming his party was hijacked by president’s ruling party
-
Roster limits in college small sports put athletes on chopping block while coaches look for answers
-
Justin Timberlake announces one-night-only NYC concert — and the tickets are free
-
Hillary Clinton reacts to Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig Oscars snub: You're both so much more than Kenough
-
Seattle officer’s remarks about death of graduate student from India violated policy, watchdog says